This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule with comment period published in the November 13, 2014 Federal Register (79 FR 67547-68092) entitled, “Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies under the Physician Fee Schedule, Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, Access to Identifiable Data for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Models & Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2015.” The effective date for the rule was January 1, 2015.

Effective Date: This document is effective February 24, 2015. Applicability Date: The corrections noted in this document and posted on the CMS Web site are applicable to payments for services furnished on or after January 1, 2015.

42 CFR Parts 411, 412, 416, 419, 422, 423, and 424

Summary

This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule with comment period published in the Federal Register on November 10, 2014, entitled “Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs; Physician-Owned Hospitals: Data Sources for Expansion Exception; Physician Certification of Inpatient Hospital Services; Medicare Advantage Organizations and Part D Sponsors: CMS-Identified Overpayments Associated with Submitted Payment Data.”

This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule with comment period published in the Federal Register on November 13, 2014, entitled “Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule, Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, Access to Identifiable Data for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Models & Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2015.”

Effective date: The provisions of this final rule are effective on January 1, 2015, with the exception of amendments to parts 412, 413, and 495 which are effective October 31, 2014. Comment date: To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on December 30, 2014. Compliance date: The compliance date for new data collection requirements in § 403.904(c)(8) is January 1, 2016.

This major final rule with comment period addresses changes to the physician fee schedule, and other Medicare Part B payment policies to ensure that our payment systems are updated to reflect changes in medical practice and the relative value of services, as well as changes in the statute. See the Table of Contents for a listing of the specific issues addressed in this rule.

Effective Date: This final rule with comment period is effective on January 1, 2015. Comment Period: To be assured consideration, comments on the payment classifications assigned to HCPCS codes identified in Addenda B, AA, and BB to this final rule with comment period with the “NI” comment indicator, and on other areas specified throughout this final rule with comment period must be received at one of the addresses provided in the ADDRESSES section no later than 5 p.m. EST on December 30, 2014. Application Deadline—New Class of New Technology Intraocular Lenses: Requests for review of applications for a new class of new technology intraocular lenses must be received by 5 p.m. EST on March 2, 2015, at the following address: ASC/NTIOL, Division of Outpatient Care, Mailstop C4-05-17, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21244-1850.

42 CFR Parts 411, 412, 416, 419, 422, 423, and 424

Summary

This final rule with comment period revises the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) and the Medicare ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system for CY 2015 to implement applicable statutory requirements and changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems. In this final rule with comment period, we describe the changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the payment rates for Medicare services paid under the OPPS and those paid under the ASC payment system. In addition, this final rule with comment period updates and refines the requirements for the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program and the ASC Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program. In this document, we also are making changes to the data sources permitted for expansion requests for physician-owned hospitals under the physician self-referral regulations; changes to the underlying authority for the requirement of an admission order for all hospital inpatient admissions and changes to require physician certification for hospital inpatient admissions only for long-stay cases and outlier cases; and changes to establish a formal process, including a three-level appeals process, to recoup overpayments that result from the submission of erroneous payment data by Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations and Part D sponsors in the limited circumstances in which the organization or sponsor fails to correct these data.

Comment Period: To be assured consideration, comments on all sections of this proposed rule must be received at one of the addresses provided in the ADDRESSES section no later than 5 p.m. EST on August 31, 2015.

42 CFR Parts 410, 412, 416, and 419

Summary

This proposed rule would revise the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) and the Medicare ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system for CY 2016 to implement applicable statutory requirements and changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems. In this proposed rule, we describe the proposed changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the payment rates for Medicare services paid under the OPPS and those paid under the ASC payment system. In addition, this proposed rule would update and refine the requirements for the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program and the ASC Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program. Further, this proposed rule includes certain proposals relating to the hospital inpatient prospective payment system: proposed changes to the 2-midnight rule under the short inpatient hospital stay policy, as well as a discussion of the related −0.2 percent payment adjustment; and a proposed transition for Medicare-dependent, small rural hospitals located in all-urban States.

To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on June 23, 2015.

42 CFR Part 412

Summary

This proposed rule would update the prospective payment rates for Medicare inpatient hospital services provided by inpatient psychiatric facilities (IPFs) (which are freestanding IPFs and psychiatric units of an acute care hospital or critical access hospital). These changes would be applicable to IPF discharges occurring during the fiscal year (FY) beginning October 1, 2015 through September 30, 2016 (FY 2016). This proposed rule also proposes: A new IPF-specific market basket; to update the IPF labor-related share; a transition to new Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) designations in the FY 2016 IPF Prospective Payment System (PPS) wage index; to phase out the rural adjustment for IPF providers whose status changes from rural to urban as a result of the proposed wage index CBSA changes; and new quality measures and reporting requirements under the IPF quality reporting program. This proposed rule also reminds IPFs of the October 1, 2015 implementation of the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM), and updates providers on the status of IPF PPS refinements.

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Office of the Secretary, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

Proposed rule.

Comment Period: To be assured consideration, comments on all sections of this proposed rule must be received at one of the addresses provided in the ADDRESSES section no later than 5 p.m. EST on June 29, 2015.

42 CFR Part 412

Summary

We are proposing to revise the Medicare hospital inpatient prospective payment systems (IPPS) for operating and capital-related costs of acute care hospitals to implement changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems for FY 2016. Some of these changes implement certain statutory provisions contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (collectively known as the Affordable Care Act), the Pathway for Sustainable Growth Reform (SGR) Act of 2013, the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, and other legislation. We also are addressing the update of the rate-of-increase limits for certain hospitals excluded from the IPPS that are paid on a reasonable cost basis subject to these limits for FY 2016. We also are proposing to update the payment policies and the annual payment rates for the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for inpatient hospital services provided by long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) for FY 2016 and implement certain statutory changes to the LTCH PPS under the Affordable Care Act and the Pathway for Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR) Reform Act of 2013 and the Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014. In addition, we are proposing to establish new requirements or to revise existing requirements for quality reporting by specific providers (acute care hospitals, PPS-exempt cancer hospitals, and LTCHs) that are participating in Medicare, including related proposals for eligible hospitals and critical access hospitals participating in the Medicare Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program. We also are proposing to update policies relating to the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program, the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program, and the Hospital-Acquired Condition (HAC) Reduction Program.

To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on June 22, 2015.

42 CFR Part 412

Summary

This proposed rule would update the prospective payment rates for inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRFs) for federal fiscal year (FY) 2016 as required by the statute. We are also proposing to adopt an IRF-specific market basket that reflects the cost structures of only IRF providers, phase in the revised wage index changes, and revise and update quality measures and reporting requirements under the IRF quality reporting program (QRP).

This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule with comment period published in the November 13, 2014 Federal Register (79 FR 67547-68092) entitled, “Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies under the Physician Fee Schedule, Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, Access to Identifiable Data for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Models & Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2015.” The effective date for the rule was January 1, 2015.

Effective Date: This document is effective February 24, 2015. Applicability Date: The corrections noted in this document and posted on the CMS Web site are applicable to payments for services furnished on or after January 1, 2015.

42 CFR Parts 411, 412, 416, 419, 422, 423, and 424

Summary

This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule with comment period published in the Federal Register on November 10, 2014, entitled “Medicare and Medicaid Programs: Hospital Outpatient Prospective Payment and Ambulatory Surgical Center Payment Systems and Quality Reporting Programs; Physician-Owned Hospitals: Data Sources for Expansion Exception; Physician Certification of Inpatient Hospital Services; Medicare Advantage Organizations and Part D Sponsors: CMS-Identified Overpayments Associated with Submitted Payment Data.”

This document corrects technical errors that appeared in the final rule with comment period published in the Federal Register on November 13, 2014, entitled “Medicare Program; Revisions to Payment Policies Under the Physician Fee Schedule, Clinical Laboratory Fee Schedule, Access to Identifiable Data for the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation Models & Other Revisions to Part B for CY 2015.”

Effective date: The provisions of this final rule are effective on January 1, 2015, with the exception of amendments to parts 412, 413, and 495 which are effective October 31, 2014. Comment date: To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of the addresses provided below, no later than 5 p.m. on December 30, 2014. Compliance date: The compliance date for new data collection requirements in § 403.904(c)(8) is January 1, 2016.

This major final rule with comment period addresses changes to the physician fee schedule, and other Medicare Part B payment policies to ensure that our payment systems are updated to reflect changes in medical practice and the relative value of services, as well as changes in the statute. See the Table of Contents for a listing of the specific issues addressed in this rule.

Effective Date: This final rule with comment period is effective on January 1, 2015. Comment Period: To be assured consideration, comments on the payment classifications assigned to HCPCS codes identified in Addenda B, AA, and BB to this final rule with comment period with the “NI” comment indicator, and on other areas specified throughout this final rule with comment period must be received at one of the addresses provided in the ADDRESSES section no later than 5 p.m. EST on December 30, 2014. Application Deadline—New Class of New Technology Intraocular Lenses: Requests for review of applications for a new class of new technology intraocular lenses must be received by 5 p.m. EST on March 2, 2015, at the following address: ASC/NTIOL, Division of Outpatient Care, Mailstop C4-05-17, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21244-1850.

42 CFR Parts 411, 412, 416, 419, 422, 423, and 424

Summary

This final rule with comment period revises the Medicare hospital outpatient prospective payment system (OPPS) and the Medicare ambulatory surgical center (ASC) payment system for CY 2015 to implement applicable statutory requirements and changes arising from our continuing experience with these systems. In this final rule with comment period, we describe the changes to the amounts and factors used to determine the payment rates for Medicare services paid under the OPPS and those paid under the ASC payment system. In addition, this final rule with comment period updates and refines the requirements for the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program and the ASC Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program. In this document, we also are making changes to the data sources permitted for expansion requests for physician-owned hospitals under the physician self-referral regulations; changes to the underlying authority for the requirement of an admission order for all hospital inpatient admissions and changes to require physician certification for hospital inpatient admissions only for long-stay cases and outlier cases; and changes to establish a formal process, including a three-level appeals process, to recoup overpayments that result from the submission of erroneous payment data by Medicare Advantage (MA) organizations and Part D sponsors in the limited circumstances in which the organization or sponsor fails to correct these data.